Hopefully, you're school is within walking distance of your apartment. If not, ask the school for a taxi note or which bus/subway you should take. Get them to write you a note (for taxies) that get's you to the school and back home. In fact, depending on where you're living you might want a lot of taxi notes. Taxies are relatively cheap here and are faster than the bus. Also, you get to see the city. My first trip to Seoul, my friend and I spent much of the day trying to figure out how to get around using the subway. We didn't see much of the city and got lost several times. Later that day, I lost it and demanded we take a taxi to our next location and was surprised how cheap it was. After that, we never took the subway again. Sure, at times, traffic was congested, but we got to see a lot of the city that you don't see while shooting through the underground in a crowded subway.
Get a taxi note for any place that you like to visit within the city. Your favorite restaurant, your favorite bar, whatever. Usually your Korean staff will be pretty helpful in this area and its also good to memorize your notes and be able to tell the driver where you want to go. You can try to tip them, but tipping isn't customary here and many won't take it, though, I've found in the bigger cities that they are becoming more progressive and will accept them.
There are two schools of thought on adapting or living in Korea. One is to dive right in and live like a native Korean. The other is to surround yourself with things and people of a Western nature and to ignore the fact that you're in Korea as much as possible.
Both of these work to a varying degree. If you are not the adaptable type than you might want to seek out things that are familiar. There are many westerners here and they tend to congregate together to cope with feelings of isolation. You'll find that they have favorite bars which they take over after a hard weekend of teaching, they'll plan on events that include a bunch of them (trips, movies, card games). The only time they associate with Koreans is during work and sometimes afterward if the Korean is westernized enough.
Other foreigners try to learn the culture and fit into the new society they are living in. They tend to avoid Isolationists who frankly spend too much time complaining about the country and all things Korean. They learn the language, often date and marry Korean women, and generally live the same as their native neighbors.
Which is the better route to adapting to living and working here? Well, it really depends on you. Personally, I find that I take the best of both worlds and try to combine them into a happy medium, but then I am a firm believer in all things in moderation. I have Foreign and Korean friends. I enjoy a lot of Korean food, but often find myself eating Western style or at one of the Korean Fusion Restaurants where you can get Western food with a Korean twist. I think it is important to understand the culture you're living in when you are visiting a new country. You have to atleast respect the culture, if you don't practice it as a sign of respect for the people, but again that's my opinion.
You know yourself (hopefully), and the best way to deal with the beginning of your contract year is to find things that make you comfortable and stress free. It might be a simple thing like finding a nice park to relax in during your breaks, finding a good bar with a friendly staff, or just making good friends that will make you feel less isolated. Whatever works, find it, or else it's going to be a long, lonely, stressful year and you might not make it through. Many foreigners who don't.
Everybody has certain things they need to survive. Food and water being the primary ones, but of course there are other wants in our life that we consider needs and seek them to keep ourselves happy and comfortable in our environment. This is probably even more important here than back home as many foreigners feel a lot of stress and isolation at first (If these feelings don't go away, then maybe you need to rethink your career choice.).
Probably the first thing you need to do once you're settled is to find a good department store where you can buy things you need. You could have a walk around and see what's nearby or ask someone at your school where the best place to shop is. Every city also has a downtown shopping district that also tends to be the center for entertainment, so its a good thing to know how to get there. These mecas of fashion and entertainment generally have western style restaurants, movie theaters, and other amenities that we take for granted back home.
Make sure when you're food shopping to avoid the small butcher shops. Korean health codes are high, but they don't have the manpower to check every shop on a regular basis. Buy your meat and anything that is perishable at a big grocery store where they have good refrigeration and don't keep the product in the cooler till it sells.
On a similiar note, be careful when you decide to try food at a street vendor. Again, maybe I'm just being a paranoid Westerner, but hygene is not much of a consideration with these vendors and again you don't know how long the meat has been sitting out. Of course, most of these vendors fry things and the seering hot oil may kill all the bacteria, but do you really want a case of the trots to be the result of your first dining experience in Korea.
Buy bottled water or boil it at home as well. There are bugs here that you just don't want to catch.
Some of the bigger Western style grocery stores also have a foreign food section and you might find things there that you enjoy. Remember, you're going to pay more for this stuff, so you might want to see if they have a Korean brand that might be much cheaper. For example, I love Western ketchup (you know the brand I'm talking about), but at the price they want, I'll settle for the Korean brand and just close my eyes and pretend.
Korea is one of the safer Asian countries, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't still be careful. Korea has one of the highest traffic accident rates in the world, so watch out for drivers and don't assume because the light is red that it's safe to cross the street.
If your a Woman, be careful at night especially when taking a taxi alone. There have been incidents where women (Korean and foreign) have been attacked by cab drivers. Use licensed cabs and be wary of anyone offering to give you a free ride.
Basically, use the same common sense you would at home and you should be fine. I've never personally had a problem here, but then I'm a big guy and I'm usually the one that people run from in dark allies.
Don't let your Korean experience be tarnished by breaking the law. Korean prisons are not the paradise they are back home. Drug use is especially looked down upon and you might find yourself with a long prison stay.
Some cities have what they call foreigner districts where there are products and services that are similiar as those in the West. The degree of similiarity can be small. For example, Busan has a foreigner district but it's actually more of a Russian district and I think more for sailors when they are on leave (if ya know what I mean).
You're better off finding the nearest US military base. There is usually always a shopping area that caters to them, although again you might balk at the prices they want for these goods and services, but if you're really in need of that box of KD then suck it up and shell out the cash.
Pyong Tek is prolly the most famous of these shopping areas, but maybe not in a good way, though the area has been cleaned up and is much more family friendly these days (if ya know what I mean). You can find a lot of food stuffs that we're used to back home as well as clothing shops that cater to larger sizes. There are also some good restaurants that reflex various cultures (thai, chinese, etc). and the place is always swarming with foreigners (though they tend to be military types who sneer at us civilians).
